This fall will mark the 20th anniversary of “Ugly Betty” and series star Michael Urie is still in awe of the experience.
“It was like a crazy whirlwind because I was literally living in Bushwick with three roommates as of like May, and in September I’m in magazines. That was a crazy time,” Urie told PauseRewind’s Elizabeth Stanton at Televerse26. “That kind of thing doesn’t really happen anymore because network television back then had such a huge scope and there weren’t as many options. You had to watch it when it was on.”
Urie also fondly remembers working with the cast, led by America Ferrera as the title character, along with co-stars Vanessa Williams and Becki Newton.
“The other thing that comes to mind is how much I learned from that experience, especially specifically the actors, the elders,” he said. “Vanessa Williams taught me so much. Judith Light, Tony Plana, America Ferrera, even though she was younger, [she] was so wise and taught me so much. And then my peers, like Becki Newton and I, are still like we’re texting today, still besties, and her insights about the world, and the insights that I have for her. Like we really shared so much, [it was a] major learning curve that that that show provided and lifelong friends.”
He continued, “It’s 20 years on, and I’m still so proud. Like go watch it. I would encourage anyone. Yeah, there’s some things that don’t really work anymore. A couple of cringe [moments], but you know, we were way ahead of our time in a lot of ways, in terms of queer stories, diversity, immigration stories-like there was a lot going on.”
Urie is set to appear in the upcoming fourth season of “Shrinking,” alongside Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams, who were also at Televerse26.
“I’ve already seen quite a bit of it, but what’s cool about this little bit of [a] reset is like we’re jumping two years, and a lot can happen in two years,” he said. “I think about where I was two years ago. It’s like very different person, and so it was a very ingenious move, I thought, on the part of the writers, because season three was a kind of a was a lot of closure. All the characters were kind of wrapping up a part of their journey. My character was starting to put his husband and baby first for once, for the first time ever, and that was a major step for him, major growth moment for him. And now, two years have passed. That baby’s a toddler, and I can’t tell you what’s been going on or what’s happening now, but he’s in a different place, and he’s not without his complications. He’s certainly still harboring the narcissistic personality that he has, but he’s grown and facing new stuff. Like every time we shed our skin, we have a whole new set of idiosyncrasies that we have to navigate, and they’re all learning. It’s really interesting.”
Jason Segel is looking forward to his character moving forward after some tough emotional seasons.
“I think that we’ve watched a guy in pain for a long time, and we intentionally do a two-year gap to see like what does it look like a little further down the road when someone is trying to be happy,” Segel told PauseRewind. “Because we had a talk about what the show could be about if we continued, and to me, this next stage of trying to take it for a spin is what I call it. Is its own set of clumsiness, almost like a rom-com, and that was really exciting to me.”
Jessica Williams is also looking forward to her character, Gabby, going through a new stage of life after her wedding.
“You’re really never done. It’s really cool to see Paul, Harrison Ford’s character at his age, having stuff that he needs to figure out. It’s really inspiring. I just want to see Gabby trying to figure it out,” Williams said. “At the end, I do want her to be happy, but for now, so that we keep having hijinks and we have a show to make, I want things to be unsettled. So just one more story.”
Her only regret is that we’ll miss out on the wedding. “I was like, the girly pops are gonna miss the wedding! Like I wanted it to, but alas. I want to know what she would wear, right? Second wedding too, so you know you kind of get toyou kind of are out of that white dress. You want to do something different.”
“Shrinking” season 4 is welcoming several new additions that will keep the original cast on their toes, like “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Karen Gillan, Christian Slater, and Michael J. Fox, who also appeared in season 3.
“We’re actually a very welcoming group, and I think that like every time we hear one of these people wants to do the show, we’re like, oh my god, they know what ‘Shrinking’ is,” Segel said. “It’s such an honor that Christian Slater would want to be on the show. I’ve been trying to work with Karen Gillan for years, so I feel so excited to be doing scenes with both of them. Christian Slater. I did a live read of ‘True Romance’ years ago, and was just at the time I remember thinking this is the coolest thing of all time. So I feel lucky every day.”
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